Refining (also known as reprocessing in EVE terminology; the two terms are interchangeable) is a miner’s second best friend, the first being powerful mining lasers. Refining allows a miner to refine their raw ore into usable minerals that can be sold or used for personal production. However, it is unlikely that new players' skill sets will allow for the efficient use of a refinery, and large portions of the refined minerals will be lost as ‘waste’, so new miners may find it more profitable to sell the raw ore they mine rather than refining it.

Contents

Equipment

In New Eden there are two types or reprocessing equipment: equipment owned by NPC corporations and equipment owned by player corporations.

If an NPC station is capable of reprocessing your materials, then its equipment will have an efficiency rating between 30% and 50% (you can search for stations with 50% reprocessing efficiency by criteria, for example npc-corp or solar system, at Station search page). Obviously using a station with 50% equipment is better so pilots should take care when choosing a reprocessing station and check this value before use. (You can use third-party map tools like DOTLAN to quickly check this)

In addition, NPC stations take a tax for using their reprocessing facilities. The tax is based on the player's personal or corporation standings with the station's owner, whichever standing is higher is used. The tax starts at 5% with 0 standings and falls to 0% at 6.67 standings with the station owner. Hence, it's a good idea to reprocess at stations for which you or your corp have the best relationship. See Equipment Tax below for more detail.

Better processing can be found in player-owned Upwell structures. Citadels and Engineering Complexes have base rates of 50%, the Athanor refinery has a base rate of 52%, and the Tatara refinery has a base rate of 54%. These percentages can be increased up to 4% through the use of rigging in high-security space, more in low-security space, and even more in null-security space (including wormholes).

Pilot Skills

There are two generic skills that affect a player’s ability to process raw materials: Reprocessing (1x) and Reprocessing Efficiency (3x), both of which are available from NPC stations. Reprocessing is the first skill you will need to improve efficiency, and will cost approximately 45,000 ISK. (This cost can be covered by the university's skillbook program.) Each level of Reprocessing will increase the pilot's efficiency by 3% for a maximum of 15% increase. Reprocessing Efficiency adds an additional 2% per level, up to 10% at level 5 skill, requires Reprocessing level IV to train, and costs 250,000 ISK from NPC stations.

To further reduce waste, there are individual ore skills for each ore type, and a generic ice skill for all ice types - these can be found on the Resource Processing page. Each level of that respective skill offers a final 2% increase to efficiency for the corresponding material, 10% at level V. The max possible reprocessing efficiency with all 5 skills, at a 50% NPC station with perfect standings is 70%. Prior to the Lifeblood expansion, the maximum possible efficiency in high-security space was 88% with perfect skills and a +4% implant using a fully upgraded citadel. You can never achieve "perfect reprocessing" and there will always be some waste.

For an average player with around 30 days training into reprocessing skills, efficiency yields would typically hover around 63-65% depending on standings at a 50% station.

Net Yield with 50% Station Equipment

Reprocessing

ReprocessingEfficiency

Ore Skill(zero)

Ore SkillI

Ore SkillII

Ore SkillIII

Ore SkillIV

Ore SkillV

(zero)

(zero)

50.00%

-

-

-

-

-

I

(zero)

51.50%

-

-

-

-

-

II

(zero)

53.00%

-

-

-

-

-

III

(zero)

54.50%

-

-

-

-

-

IV

(zero)

56.00%

57.12%

58.24%

59.36%

60.48%

61.60%

V

(zero)

57.50%

58.65%

59.80%

60.95%

62.10%

63.25%

V

I

58.65%

59.82%

60.99%

62.16%

63.34%

64.51%

V

II

59.80%

60.99%

62.19%

63.38%

64.58%

65.78%

V

III

60.95%

62.16%

63.38%

64.60%

65.82%

67.04%

V

IV

62.10%

63.34%

64.58%

65.82%

67.06%

68.31%

V

V

63.25%

64.51%

65.78%

67.04%

68.31%

69.57%

Reprocessing in a station

Before you can process your raw materials you must place the ore in your hangar at a station with a refinery, or into the cargohold of a player-owned starbase reprocessing array. Compressed ores require 1 unit to process, while uncompressed ores require 100 units. You cannot process uncompressed ores with less than 100 units of a single type, e.g. 75 units of Veldspar cannot be combined with 25 units of Dense Veldspar for processing. Both compressed and uncompressed ores yield the same amount of minerals per batch. All ice require 1 unit to process, with compressed ice simply taking 10x less volume (100 m3) than uncompressed ice (1,000 m3).

To begin processing, right click the item from your hangar and select process, or drag it to an opened reprocessing window. Once done, you'll have screen that looks similar to this:

In this example, we have approximately 120,000 units of Plagioclase designated for processing. With 39% overall efficiency, the processing yield at a glance will give approximately 51,850 units of Tritanium, 10,000 units of Pyerite and 51,850 units of Mexallon.

To see more detailed information about exact yields and calculations, simply hover over any item in either the input or output window. For example, hovering over the Plagioclase in the input window shows us the following:

Scrapmetal Reprocessing

Scrap metal (module and ship) reprocessing works slightly differently to mineral refining. The user interface is identical, but the calculations are different. Only the Scrapmetal Processing (5x) skill affects the output, and is applied directly to the base reprocessing yield of the station or structure. Stations have a base yield of between 35 - 50% and structures have a base yield of 50% (this is not affected by structure or rig bonuses). The yield is also not affected by implants, so the maxiumm possible yield for ships and modules is 55% with perfect skills.

To calculate this manually, or import into a tool or spreadsheet, you can use the following formula:Station Equipment x (1 + Scrapmetal Processing x 0.02)

To see more detailed information about exact yields and calculations, simply hover over any item in either the input or output window. For example, hovering over the Metal Scraps in the input window shows us the following:

Compression

Compression offers significant savings in valuable cargo-space, and can only be done in Upwell Structures that offer refining or with a Rorqual industrial ship whilst in its industrial configuration. Batch sizes are 100 units for ore, and 1 unit for ice, with both compressing down to a single unit of their compressed version per batch. Compressed ice takes 10-times less volume (100 m3) than uncompressed ice (1,000 m3). Compressed ore has various volumes depending on the type. See the Ore table below for specific volume information.

A single unit of compressed ore or ice can be processed for an equal amount of materials as their uncompressed versions. As such, compression yields more minerals per m3 of space, but not per batch - 100 units of Veldspar yields the same 415 Tritanium as a single unit of compressed Veldspar, which was at some point made from 100 units of uncompressed Veldspar.

Once the ore is placed in Upwell Structure's item hanger, or Rorqual's ore hold, simply right click and select compress. For the Rorqual you will need to make sure the industrial core is active, as it cannot compress ore normally. If there are more than 100 units of ore, or 1 unit of ice, they raw materials will be quickly compressed and ready for whatever you plan to do with them, with any excess materials left untouched. Typically, compression is done to maximize cargo space for efficient and safe transport, such as capital production in low/null security space.

Ore

The following table lists the mineral content (gross yield) of each ore type, and the location(s) where they can be found. Compressed ores require 1 unit to refine, while uncompressed ores require 100 units.

Note that actual yield (net, or less than the gross yield) will depend on reprocessing equipment, player skills, level of reprocessing implant (if any), and corporation standings if using an NPC station.

Ore Type

Uncompressed Volume

Compressed Volume

Tritanium

Pyerite

Mexallon

Isogen

Nocxium

Megacyte

Zydrine

Morphite

Location

Veldspar

0.1

0.15

415

1.0 (All Space)

Concentrated Veldspar (+5%)

0.1

0.15

436

1.0 (All Space)

Dense Veldspar (+10%)

0.1

0.15

457

1.0 (All Space)

Scordite

0.15

0.19

346

173

1.0 (All Space)

Condensed Scordite (+5%)

0.15

0.19

364

182

1.0 (All Space)

Massive Scordite (+10%)

0.15

0.19

381

190

1.0 (All Space)

Pyroxeres

0.3

0.16

351

25

50

5

0.9 (Amarr, Caldari)

Solid Pyroxeres (+5%)

0.3

0.16

369

26

53

5

0.9 (Amarr, Caldari)

Viscous Pyroxeres (+10%)

0.3

0.16

387

27

55

5

0.9 (Amarr, Caldari)

Plagioclase

0.35

0.15

107

213

107

0.9 (Gallente, Minmatar), 0.7 (Caldari)

Azure Plagioclase (+5%)

0.35

0.15

113

224

113

0.9 (Gallente, Minmatar), 0.7 (Caldari)

Rich Plagioclase (+10%)

0.35

0.15

118

235

118

0.9 (Gallente, Minmatar), 0.7 (Caldari)

Omber

0.6

0.3

800

100

85

0.7 (Gallente, Minmatar)

Silvery Omber (+5%)

0.6

0.3

840

105

90

0.7 (Gallente, Minmatar)

Golden Omber (+10%)

0.6

0.3

880

110

94

0.7 (Gallente, Minmatar)

Kernite

1.2

0.19

134

267

134

0.7 (Amarr), 0.4 (Caldari, Minmatar)

Luminous Kernite (+5%)

1.2

0.19

141

281

141

0.7 (Amarr), 0.4 (Caldari, Minmatar)

Fiery Kernite (+10%)

1.2

0.19

148

294

148

0.7 (Amarr), 0.4 (Caldari, Minmatar)

Jaspet

2

0.15

350

75

8

0.4 (Amarr, Gallente)

Pure Jaspet (+5%)

2

0.15

368

79

8

0.4 (Amarr, Gallente)

Pristine Jaspet (+10%)

2

0.15

385

83

9

0.4 (Amarr, Gallente)

Hemorphite

3

0.16

2200

100

120

15

0.2 (Amarr, Gallente)

Vivid Hemorphite (+5%)

3

0.16

2310

105

126

16

0.2 (Amarr, Gallente)

Radiant Hemorphite (+10%)

3

0.16

2420

110

132

17

0.2 (Amarr, Gallente)

Hedbergite

3

0.14

1000

200

100

19

0.2 (Amarr, Gallente)

Vitric Hedbergite (+5%)

3

0.14

1050

210

105

20

0.2 (Amarr, Gallente)

Glazed Hedbergite (+10%)

3

0.14

1100

220

110

21

0.2 (Amarr, Gallente)

Gneiss

5

1.03

2200

2400

300

-0.4 (Amarr, Minmatar)

Iridescent Gneiss (+5%)

5

1.03

2310

2520

315

-0.4 (Amarr, Minmatar)

Prismatic Gneiss (+10%)

5

1.03

2420

2640

330

-0.4 (Amarr, Minmatar)

Dark Ochre

8

3.27

10000

1600

120

-0.2 (Caldari, Gallente)

Onyx Ochre (+5%)

8

3.27

10500

1680

126

-0.2 (Caldari, Gallente)

Obsidian Ochre (+10%)

8

3.27

11000

1760

132

-0.2 (Caldari, Gallente)

Spodumain

16

16

56000

12050

2100

450

-0.5 (Amarr, Caldari)

Bright Spodumain (+5%)

16

16

58800

12653

2205

473

-0.5 (Amarr, Caldari)

Gleaming Spodumain (+10%)

16

16

61600

13255

2310

495

-0.5 (Amarr, Caldari)

Crokite

16

7.81

21000

760

135

-0.5 (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente)

Sharp Crokite (+5%)

16

7.81

22050

798

142

-0.5 (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente)

Crystalline Crokite (+10%)

16

7.81

23100

836

149

-0.5 (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente)

Bistot

16

6.11

12000

100

450

-0.6 (All Space)

Triclinic Bistot (+5%)

16

6.11

12600

105

473

-0.6 (All Space)

Monoclinic Bistot (+10%)

16

6.11

13200

110

495

-0.6 (All Space)

Arkonor

16

3.08

22000

2500

320

-0.6 (All Space)

Crimson Arkonor (+5%)

16

3.08

23100

2625

336

-0.7 (All Space)

Prime Arkonor (+10%)

16

3.08

24200

2750

352

-0.7 (All Space)

Mercoxit

40

0.1

300

-0.8 (All Space)

Magma Mercoxit (+5%)

40

0.1

315

-0.8 (All Space)

Vitreous Mercoxit (+10%)

40

0.1

330

-0.8 (All Space)

Ore Type

Uncompressed Volume

Compressed Volume

Tritanium

Pyerite

Mexallon

Isogen

Nocxium

Megacyte

Zydrine

Morphite

Location

Simplified Ore Chart for In-Game Notebook

For quick reference, copy the following lines and paste them into your player notes or your notebook. (When you paste them, the lines will close up.)

Implants

Furthermore, for pilots looking to get their reprocessing yield even higher, they may wish to look into the Zainou 'Beancounter' Reprocessing RX series implants. These Implants are slot 8 Skill Hardwirings found in the market under Resource Processing Implants. They come in 3 varieties RX-801 (1%), RX-802 (2%) and RX-804 (4%) to provide an expensive but possibly worthwhile investment that will bring a pilot closer to a maximum effective efficiency in their station or POS of choice.

Equipment Tax

Stations charge a reprocessing fee, a percentage of the estimated value of reprocessed minerals.

Player-owned Upwell Structures can charge almost any rate for reprocessing, including 0%. If you go to the Structures browser in the Neocom menu, you can hover over the reprocessing icon and see the charge for player-owned Upwell Structures.

NPC corporations charge based on your standings with the corporation. It's a good idea to learn skill Connections, to increase your effective standing towards corporation. Even if your real standing with the corporation is close to zero, Connections V will cut your corporation tax by 25%. Note that until you complete at least one mission for the NPC corporation, your Connections skill will not be taken into account when calculating your tax rate.

Also notice that the Connections skill gives diminishing results. The higher your standings, the less benefit you get from it.